大象传媒

I was 11 when the war started and living in Wolverhampton with my Mother and Grandad.

My first job was sticking brown paper strips on all the window and helping to make and hang black-out curtains.

Then the shelter had to be thought about. Under the large Victorian house on which we lived were two cellars, one for coal, and Mother thought the other would be ideal for a shelter. So we cleaned it out, white washed the walls, put in a table and chairs. On the table we put cups, plates, candles etc. We also had books, blankets, matches and all sorts. We were all very cosy!

In time an inspector was calling at all the homes to see what sort of shelters everyone had got. We took him proudly down to our cellar and he had a look round then he asked what the two pipes were along the ceiling. We didn't know. He had a closer look then looked at us and said, well ones got gas in it and the other water! He said that if we'd had a bomb dropped near us, the pipes would rupture and we would be either gassed or drowned!
So it was a big NO to our cosy room under the house and we ended up with a very ugly table shelter in the sitting room!

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Jacci Phillips of the CSV Action Desk at 大象传媒 Hereford and Worcester on behalf of Patricia Richards and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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